Book 10 Chapter 19 – Treasure Hunting At Night
DECEMBER 8, 2017 ~ EMILYEVELAN
At a glance, stone eggs littered the floor, each little piece pressed together. Even if there are differences, these differences are hidden by the sheer quantity of rocks. Lei Xinfeng felt a headache coming.
Lei Xinfeng walked some thousand meters like the others, and his eyes blurred like the others. He began complimenting Senior Brother’s ability to stay here for seventeen years, even if that time was split up into several sections. After just a few kilometers, Lei Xinfeng felt he couldn’t take anymore. This place wasn’t a place for humans.
After sitting down, Lei Xinfeng found that the stone eggs were extremely hot. If he wasn’t a practitioner, his skin would probably have burnt off. Now, he could ignore the heat of the stone eggs. He even thought it was comfortable. With the cool air coming from his chest and the heat from under him, he wanted to take a nap.
Under the allure of the sky crystal, everyone except Lei Xinfeng was working hard.
Lei Xinfeng began rolling on the stone eggs. It felt really good like someone was giving him a massage. Closing his eyes, he let out a satisfied sound, when he suddenly heard something right next to him. Opening his eyes, he saw Xin Zhaolun’s big face looming in front of him, scaring him. “Ahhh, you scared me half to death!”
Xin Zhaolun smiled. “Ah Feng, did you find anything?”
Lei Xinfeng scrunched up his face. “Brother, look at this field of rocks. Even if there is one crystal in ten thousand eggs, then maybe we can get lucky and find one. However, if there is one in ten million, there’s really no way. I only walked this far and I already have a headache and blurry eyes. I’m going blind.”
Xin Zhaolun couldn’t hold in a grimace. “I didn’t know it would be like this either. No wonder Senior Brother had so much trouble.”
“True. If it was mining, I have some confidence, but I’m really helpless when it comes to picking out rocks.”
Feng Chenzong had been watching Lei Xinfeng. When he saw that Xin Zhaolun flew over, he followed. “What’s happening? Is there hope?”
“Senior Brother, it’s not that I’m trying to be negative, but in this field of rocks, it’s too difficult to find anything!” Lei Xinfeng said.
“No matter how difficult, we must persevere,” Feng Chenzong said. “Let’s continue.” He flew back to where he was and began to look again.
“Third Brother, you go too. I’ll continue. It looks like there’s nothing to rely on but luck now,” Lei Xinfeng said.
Xin Zhaolun nodded. “Haha, okay… Actually, Ah Feng, I think I’ve given up already.” By the time he finished, his voice was almost inaudible.
Lei Xinfeng laughed. “Brother, me too. I can’t figure out why there would be so many stone eggs around the same size. It’s almost like they’re man-made.”
Xin Zhaolun scanned the fields. “I know! It’s such a strange place. Whatever. This time, we’re helping Senior brother, so let’s do our best.” He lowered his voice. “In the sect, everything will be easier if we have his support, especially the use of Hidden Gates.
Only then did he fly back to his spot to continue searching.
After searching for an entire day, everyone had crushed thousands of stone eggs, but no one found a sky crystal.
Lei Xinfeng took out his waterskin and took a sip, watching the sky slowly darken. “Where are we sleeping tonight?” he shouted. This place was wide and flat, and sound carried far.
Feng Chenzong flew into the air, answering, “Alright, we’re stopping here today. Everyone follow me!”
Everyone immediately took flight, gathering at Feng Chenzong’s position.
“Did anyone find anything today?” Feng Chenzong asked.
Everyone shook their heads and he could only sigh. “Alright, follow me. There’s a stone slab we can camp at.”
After roughly half an hour, the group saw a nondescriptive rock roughly a hundred square meters, jutting a meter out of the ground. Although this slab is full of uneven grooves, it’s still better than the ground full of stone eggs.
No one lit a fire and they all ate dried rations instead. After a simple meal, they all sat down and began to cultivate. It was a habit that they all had.
Lei Xinfeng didn’t cultivate. Instead, he was deep in thought, wondering how he could find these sky crystals. In truth, he didn’t really give up, it’s just that he hadn’t found the right method of searching, of differentiating the rocks. He’d already looked through so many stone eggs. If he kept on like this, he’d never find anything. If he could find the trick to it, then what he could obtain is most likely not limited to just one sky crystal. If he really found the trick, he didn’t mind giving Feng Chenzong and Xin Zhaolun each a crystal.
Once he found the trick, he believed that with his ability, he could definitely find more.
Every time he found a type of ore, he would be able to see a different kind of light. Some were strong and some were weak, but as long as he could find the light, then he’d be able to find the ore. Since sky crystals were also a kind of ore, he didn’t believe that it wouldn’t emit light.
What obstructed his searching was the color of the stone and the ambient light. The powerful sunlight along with the myriad of colors that decorated the stones will cover up the light. No matter how strong his eyesight was, he still wouldn’t be able to find anything. All he could see was a mess of rainbows.
Avoiding the disturbances of this ambient light was the major problem he had to solve.
Lei Xinfeng looked up at the starry night sky, muttering to himself, “Ah, I don’t know if there will be any light at night. It’s not too dark right now, but there’s starlight. Maybe I’ll see something different.” He stood up and walked toward the edge of the stone slab.
Feng Chenzong noticed Lei Xinfeng’s movement immediately. “What are you doing, Lei Xinfeng?”
“I’m just going to take a walk. I’m a bit miffed that I couldn’t find anything. Testing my luck,” Lei Xinfeng said.
Feng Chenzong nodded, impressed. “Mm, go then.” That someone was willing to forego sleep to help find look for sky crystals was something that made him really happy. His opinion of Lei Xinfeng keeps raising.
Lei Xinfeng flew a bit of a distance before landing. He didn’t want to search near the stone slab.
Squinting, he saw a vastly different scene than in the day.
The ground wasn’t really dark. Under the starlight, the ground had a light grey color, full of stone eggs, but without the myriad of colors. Lei Xinfeng walked slowly, observing each area.
After several thousand meters, the corner of Lei Xinfeng’s eyes caught a silver flash. He immediately stopped and looked, but he found nothing. However, after his first clue since he came here, he stopped in place. He turned his head, only to catch that silver flash again.
Lei Xinfeng’s heart began to pound. Is it the light that sky crystals gave off?
He must stay calm! After reminding himself, Lei Xinfeng began to shake his head. After a few more times, he caught that silver flash again. After locking onto the location, he walked toward the silver light.
Lei Xinfeng walked extremely slowly, eyes never leaving the stone eggs that caught his eye. He strained every nerve.
When he came to the location of the silver flash, he looked at the stone eggs. Although he couldn’t pinpoint the exact rock that emitted the light, he knew what to do. He sorted through each rock. After throwing away several dozen rocks, he found what he was looking for.
It was an average rock slightly grey in color, quite similar to the one that Feng Chenzong showed him. Only the color was different. However, this stone egg emitted a dim silver glow. Lei Xinfeng knew he struck gold.
Lei Xinfeng carefully held the stone egg and hesitated. He decided to not crush the rock. No one knew which rock contained a crystal so one could only crush it. However, there was a chance that the crystal might shatter. The best method was to grind away the outer layer. This was only viable if you know beforehand that something was in it. Else, will you slowly grind away the entire stone field?
Lei Xinfeng stored the stone egg away into his Hidden Lun Space, marking it carefully so he didn’t lose it. He began to search anew. He hadn’t confirmed whether the object within the stone egg was really a sky crystal, but he knew that something was in it. As to what it is, the only way was to break it open to reveal the inside.
At the moment, Lei Xinfeng realized something else. There was a possibility that the eggs containing the sky crystal might be buried under the upper layer of stone. He wouldn’t know even if he bypassed it.
After thinking about it, Lei Xinfeng began to wield his Chaos Wheel. It slammed into the ground with a loud boom, ending stone eggs flying every which way, leaving a seven to eight meter deep hole. In this strike, Lei Xinfeng carefully controlled his strength, using only a fifth of his power.
Lei Xinfeng found at that moment that the ground was full of stone eggs, even underground, without a trace of soil or bedrock.
After his strike, Lei Xinfeng looked carefully for the light.
In the end, there was none. In other words, this strike didn’t reveal anything.
Fortunately, Lei Xinfeng knew that if it was so easy to find sky crystals, then Feng Chenzong wouldn’t have searched here for seventeen years with nothing to show for it.
Boom!
Ten meters away, Lei Xinfeng launched his second strike.
A silver flash flew in the debris of his destruction. Lei Xinfeng’s heart soared. His body blurred and before the stone landed, it was already in his Hidden Lun space. He won’t open it now, but later. Even if there wasn’t anything in it, there was no loss since he couldn’t find anything in the first place. If he did, however, then he really struck it rich.
Lei Xinfeng blasted the ground a few more times but found nothing except the two he had obtained early.
Just as he was about the hit the ground one more time, his entire group flew over. “Who are you fighting?” Xin Zhaolun shouted.
Jax’s Voice: I’m back!